WCHB-AM (1200 kHz) is an urban talk station owned by Radio One, the national radio owner focused on serving the black community. Mildrid Gaddis is a long time radio personality and activist in the Detroit Area – she will move to WPZR-FM, which is the Hip Hop station.
WCHB-AM is 50,000 watts (daytime), but not a class A “clear channel” station. Because of the proximity to the Canadian border, the station has a total of 10 antenna towers – 4 are used during the day, and all 10 towers at night (15,000 watts). The transmitter is located in Taylor, South of the main Detroit area airport. The directional signal is pointed straight North, and away from Windsor.
The transmitter is in a swampy undeveloped area close to the abandoned Pinnacle Horse Racing track, which surrendered its license to the state of Michigan in 2011 and was recently demolished.
Back when the subject of Casinos in Michigan came up, the horse racing folks opposed the competition. Eventually, a compromise was reached which involved off track gambling with simultaneous TV coverage. The 320 acres of land was sold by Wayne County for $1 on the fantasy of the racetrack creating 1,200 jobs. The Chippewa indian tribe now hopes to build a casino there.
WCHB-AM is being sold for $2 million to Crawford Broadcasting, controlled by Donald Crawford, a white man from Florida who owns three religious stations in the Detroit area WMUZ-FM, WRDT-AM and WEXL-AM.
Donald Crawford is the son of deceased TV and radio evangelist Percy Crawford, who started his ministry career in Philadelphia
http://percycrawford.com/
http://crawfordbroadcasting.com/history/
Donald must be in his 80s by now. Generation three is taking the reins.
WPZR is gospel, not hip hop. Looks like I have corrections to make.
The hip hop format moved to WGPR in 2011 under an LMA – WGPR is owned by the black masonic temple on Gratiot Avenue – I remember writing about it a long time ago, following a discussion with a man in Detroit who explained to me that the Shriners had stolen Freemasonry from black people some time in the past.
http://streamingradioguide.com/startingover/?p=4935